Do you think Soda (Pop) is over priced?

I was a guest with some friends out at a resturant and with each soda being over $2 i realized i could get well over a 2 litter bottle of Soda for the same price in the grocery store and at the same time in the grocery store you can pay more for a 20 oz soda from the check out line soda coolers then a 2 litter bottle that comes off the shelf . Do you think Soda (Pop) is over priced?.

Strange, I was at the country fair, and we saw 20 ounce bottles for $1.30 or so... then right next to it, the liter bottles (big slam or whatever they're called) for $1.20. So we went on and on about that loudly in the store just because we couldn't believe it...

The Big Y market in my local plaza sells a 2-liter for 1.50. The Family Dollar right across the plaza sells it for one dollar. every day. not a sales thing. WHY would I buy it at Big Y?

It is disgraceful that you pay 1.29 at a convenience store for a 20 oz-er when the 2 liter (at least as cold) for 20 cents more. But you're more or less paying for the convenience to not lug around a 2 liter on the go.

Rarely do I buy 20 oz-ers except from the vendo at work, when I run out from the 2 liter in my office fridge.

EVERYTHING in a restaurant costs more than if you bought the same items in a store - the ingredients, the wine, etc.

There was an interesting piece on the soft drink industry on NPR a couple of years back. They think soda is too expensive as well and are desperately trying to come up with a delivery system that doesn't involve mixing syrup, ingredients and carbonation at a plant, bottling or canning the result and then trucking it all over the country. They tried installing a DIY filling center at some grocery stores around the country; people could take in their own containers and fill them, weigh them and get a printed price sticker (prices were generally around 25% of what you would usually pay), but they were a resounding flop. Both on the service side (lotsa maintenance problems, cleaning etc.) and on the consumer side (hard to clean machines make for an unnattractive interface, people would forget to bring containers) and most consumers ended up bypassing the same product at a lower price to buy already containerized product at a higher price.

If somebody can come up with some delivery system that cuts out container costs and cuts down transportation costs (especially with gas prices the way they are), the soft drink industry wants to give you a lot of money...

The prices seem fair enough. I think the pricing structure for soda pop encourages people to overindulge. My local grocery stores normally charge $1.30 or so for a 20 ounce. You can buy two one liter bottles for $2, and a two liter botttle goes on sale for .99 quite often. Same goes for places like McDonalds and the dollar menu. Why buy a healthy salad for $5 when you can get a double cheeseburger for $1???